Total pages in book: 211
Estimated words: 201554 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1008(@200wpm)___ 806(@250wpm)___ 672(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 201554 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1008(@200wpm)___ 806(@250wpm)___ 672(@300wpm)
“They came after you. Surely you can’t think your mother would try to have you killed?”
“Guess who gets my trust if I die?”
“No,” he says. “I don’t believe she’ll go after you. And we now know she’s involved enough that she knows that trust money is locked down by the mob.” He stands and pulls me to my feet. “Get this out of your head. Your mother did not try to kill you.”
“She inherits everything. What if she never intended to kill me. She was just going after me to distract the police when she had you and your father killed?”
“No,” he says. “Sorry, sweetheart, but she’s just not that smart.”
He’s not wrong.
She’s not.
But then again, she’s showed a new side of herself and appears to be nothing she seems.
Chapter one hundred eighteen
Harper
Asea of sharks.
A sea of emotions with shark fins, and sharper teeth.
That’s what I feel like we’re living right now.
When Eric and I arrive home, we end up naked and in bed, and while it’s a grand distraction, filled with lots of hot and tender moments, when it’s over, I’m back in that sea, with my mother back on my mind.
“Could my mother do something like that?” I ask, scooting to the edge of the bed, my back to Eric. It’s appalling to think that she might actually go after the man I love and try to kill him.
Eric seems to know actions work more than words at this point. In other words, it doesn’t take Eric long to get me dressed and a drink in my hand. Or for me to shove a Rubik’s cube into his hand before telling him to figure this all out. “No pressure,” he says teasingly, but I’m sure he feels those words on a very real level.
We’re at the kitchen island at this point. “Can you pull up the will? We need to look at her part more closely. And I need to change mine.”
“You already know she inherits.” He slides his Mac in front of him. “But I do need to read the entire document in more detail. I’m sending it to you, too.”
“I don’t have a computer.”
He pulls out his phone. “I’ll fix that. Your purse and computer are at security compliments of Adam”
“Oh good,” I breathe out. “I can go get the package.”
He’s already on the phone. Ten minutes later there's a knock on the door, and the front desk has delivered my things.
Now we’re both locked and loaded on the will, and I decide I need coffee, not a drink, and put a pot on. Once we both have steaming cups in front of us, I consider my mother again. “Has anyone looked into her finances?”
“I’m sure Blake has, but she wasn’t on the radar at all before now. I doubt he’s looked closely.”
“But she is now,” I say, my throat suddenly tight.
His hand comes down on my leg. “Maybe she really thinks I’m the one who poisoned my father. They hate me, Harper. I assure you, she’s heard nothing but another form of poison where I’m concerned. Don’t assume the worst.”
“How can you be this kind about her? You know what she did.”
“She hid what he did to my mother. She didn’t do it.”
“It’s not much better. Back to the will. Who inherits if you die?”
“I’m not in the will. She inherits if the eldest son dies. That’s Isaac.”
Thirty-five minutes later, we know nothing else. “It just feels off,” I murmur. “Like we’re missing something. And why does it say eldest son, and not Isaac by name?”
“I have no idea but the birth certificate the first message alerted us to has been found. He’s dead. We just don’t know how he connects to the family. But the interesting part is how he died.”
“Car accident,” she supplies, her tone grim.
“Yes, and what I didn’t tell you was the guy who worked for my father and helped ink the deal for my guardianship, also died. And you want to guess how?”
She gapes. “Oh my God. A car accident?’
“Yes. On the money.”
“This is all starting to add up. I bet you had a sibling and Isaac got rid of him. Gigi would have likely known. It really makes sense that she had those notes delivered to us.”
He picks up the cube, and stares down at it. “We’re close, but I can almost feel the sands of time, slipping through the glass. If we don’t figure this out, and end it, this whole situation is going to blow. And it’s going to blow big.”
A chill runs down my spine.
He’s right. I feel it, too. Something is coming.
Chapter one hundred nineteen
Harper
Eric sets me up in an office at Bennett and we eat lunch in my new, quite luxurious work spot that comes complete with a city view. We spend some time going over the NFL contract and Eric leaves me a while to study it while he catches up on a few work projects. And it feels good to have a purpose, and some idea where this drastic career change is leading me. When Eric finishes up his work, we head to the hospital. Isaac and the detective never show up nor does trouble of any sort. Another one of those bittersweet victories.